After hours of deadlock, Republicans in the US Senate have narrowly passed Donald Trump’s sweeping tax and spending bill, dubbed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, with Vice-President JD Vance casting the tie-breaking vote following over 24 hours of debate.
The legislation now returns to the House of Representatives, where it still faces stiff resistance. An earlier version had scraped through the House with a single-vote majority.
President Trump had urged the Republican-controlled Congress to deliver a final version of the bill by July 4.
“The bill, as amended, is passed,” Vance declared on Tuesday afternoon, prompting applause from Senate Republicans. Democrats, by contrast, slumped in their seats, visibly dismayed.
The bill’s path through the Senate was hindered by deep divisions over the deficit, social programmes, and spending cuts, with Trump conceding that meeting the Independence Day deadline would be “very hard”.
Speaking from a migrant detention facility in Florida shortly afterwards, Trump hailed the vote. “It’s a great bill,” he said. “There is something for everyone.”
The legislation, a cornerstone of Trump’s second-term agenda, would permanently extend the large tax cuts introduced during his first presidency. To offset the revenue shortfall, the bill includes sweeping reductions in federal programmes, including food assistance and Medicaid.
Democrats had attempted to stall the vote with procedural roadblocks. The House must now approve the Senate’s revisions before the bill can reach the president’s desk—but its future remains uncertain. With Republicans holding a slim margin, they cannot afford to lose more than three votes.
Adding to the pressure, tech billionaire Elon Musk—once a staunch Trump ally and cost-cutting adviser—has turned sharply against the legislation. Musk has threatened to challenge Republican supporters of the bill and hinted at forming a new political party if it passes.
“Every member of Congress who campaigned on reducing government spending and then voted for the biggest debt increase in history should hang their head in shame,” Musk posted on X.
The bill also proposes major rollbacks in subsidies for renewable energy and electric vehicles—posing a direct threat to Tesla, the company that helped build Musk’s fortune.
With the clock ticking down to the 4 July deadline, Republican lawmakers now face fierce lobbying from all sides as they prepare for one more high-stakes vote.
